When we finished eating we threw our trash in the bin and walked to the first few stores. I was looking at an especially expensive necklace when I saw him again. In the reflection of the glass. He was leaving the store I was looking into. I looked behind me and he was gone.
Huh. weird. I looked back to the necklace and sighed. It was a gold chain with an intricate rose hanging from it. Two hundred dollars. Absolutely insane. Maybe it was real gold. Cool.
I turned toward Cass. "Let's go in here. See if there is anything affordable here." I laughed.
"Good idea, I could always use some more jewelry." she smiled. We entered and something shiny on the floor caught my attention. I walked closer and bent down to pick it up.
A broken watch. The band was familiar. I saw the mystery guy wearing it at the table earlier. I pocketed it and walked back over to where Cassidy was looking at some earrings.
A couple hours passed and we had a lot of bags to carry to the car. We loaded the trunk and the back seats. I closed the back car door and got in the passenger seat.
I looked toward Cassidy, "alright, you ready? Don't try to kill us this time alright?" I laughed and held on to the handle above my head for good measure.
She rolled her eyes with a small smile and backed out of the parking spot. The drive back to the school was a lot more bleak than when we left. We were both reluctant to go back. Even though it was the only home I'd ever known, it still wasn't a place I wanted to go unless it would save me from something bad.
We unloaded the car a little slower than filling it and was able to get it all inside the school in one go. Once I got to my room I set my bags on the floor and sat on my bed, pulling out the broken watch I found. The band was an expensive brown leather and the clock part was gold. I turned it over and I saw a quote inscribed in it.
"Better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie."
Interesting.
The next day passed by kinda quickly, and when I walked into my dorm, there was a letter on my nightstand. I walked across my empty room and sat on my bed, throwing my backpack haphazardly on the floor. I grabbed the letter and tore open the envelope, wanting to free the letter as fast as I could. As I read, I was fully shocked, and I thought it was a joke at first, but then I saw that the sender knew that I was different from other people and was from the royal court.
At the bottom, it says, 'you have been requested at the king and queen's castle.' I search for the date and time, but I don't see anything. 'What time?' I think while still looking, and on the bottom of the page, a sentence appears that wasn't there before, and it says 'there will be a portal in the headmistress's office.'
I nod slowly, unsure if the paper can actually see me. I think 'when should I go?' right under the first mysterious sentence, a second one pops up and says, 'the portal will open up at 9:15, so you need to go there at 9:00. Mrs. Star needs to talk to you.' I think for a second and look at the digital clock next to where the letter was and see that it is 8:30.
I set down the letter on the nightstand, and suddenly it goes up in flames and singes the wood a little. I gasp and stand up quickly. After a few seconds, nothing happens, so I move over to my closet and look for something appropriate to meet with the royal family. I know it's pointless to dress myself up when they are just going to see me how they want to. I eventually find something to my liking and walk out of my dorm room to Mrs. Jade's office.
Jade Starr is a very respectable woman. I think of her as my idol. I saw the receptionist at her desk. I smiled at her, and she smiled at me.
"Hello, Estella, the headmistress is ready for you." I nodded politely, saying, "Thanks, Cynthia."
Before I walked down the familiar hallway to Mrs. Jade's office, I knocked for good measure and walked into the room. She had said to come in, and when the door opened, I saw her sitting behind her desk. She smiled up at me and motioned for me to sit.
"Good evening, Estella, how are you?" I sat obediently and smiled a little, "I'm alright, and you?" "I'm wonderful. So, let's get down to business. There is going to be a portal coming in a few minutes, but first, I want to talk with you."
I nodded slowly, kinda confused. "Um… first, I have a personal question that I've been dwelling on for a while, if that's alright with you."
She nodded slightly, genuinely curious about what I had to say. "What are you? Not to be rude or anything, but you don't seem completely human."
She laughed. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. I am a vampire, I've been alive for almost four hundred years." My eyes widened in shock.
"Well, that answers my next question." I chuckled softly, slightly uncomfortable with the answer.
I looked closer at her. Her hair fell in dark brown waves framing her pale, pointed face and ending at her waist. She did not look older than thirty years old. Her eyes are a beautiful forest hazel, with green and brown sparkling in the light. She abruptly stood, and I instantly remembered how tall she was, especially in the four-inch heels. Her small hourglass frame often made her look short when she was sitting. She walked over to a filing cabinet and pulled out a folder. Mrs. Starr came back over to her desk and handed me the papers. I flipped it open, and the first thing I saw was a picture of my parents' burned bodies. I gasp in surprise as tears threaten to escape my eyes.
I looked back up at lovely Mrs. Jade. "Why do you have this and why did you give it to me?"
She smiled back at me, kinda like the Cheshire Cat. Hmm. "I had to pull some strings, but after the investigation, I got them for you. Keep reading." I gave her a weird look but continued to read.
"We have found the bodies of the parents, but it took a few hours to locate her close to the back door of the house after escaping. We can say we know what started the fire and that the mother was seven months pregnant. The house smelled strongly of lighter fluid, so we have the right to believe this "accident" was premeditated."
The rest of the report was blotted out by old age and fresh water spots. I didn't realize right away that they were my tears. I wiped my face and looked back up at her.
"I had a sibling? Did they survive? Do they know who started the fire?" I was half hysterical. Jade reached over and grabbed my hand.
"Calm down, Darling, you have a wonderful little brother named Lucas, who lives in Nelson City. He doesn't have any special powers; he is a normal boy, and he doesn't know about you. We don't know who started the fire but we do have some leads. I know it's been seven years, but sometimes things like this take a lot of time. I'm sorry, Estella, but you need to go now, so I will talk more with you when you get back."
I nodded and watched her get up and walk over to the blackout curtain. She pulled it aside to reveal what's behind it and motioned for me to join her. I got up and quickly crossed the room to see a beautiful swirling portal. It had many different colors swirling around in the depths of the makeshift door. It looked like a never-ending hall, like in Coraline. Thankfully, though it was a little taller than me, I didn't have to crouch. I was instantly drawn to it. I looked over at Mrs. Jade and asked, "What do I do now?"
She didn't have a chance to respond because I was instantly sucked in, watching her face get smaller until the colors swallowed it up. I was cartwheeling and spinning, feeling like I was gonna puke when I finally saw a bright light. The portal spat me out, and I landed on my butt, stunned. I scrambled to my feet and looked around. I could tell it was a throne room by the intricate chairs on a platform in the front of the room. The walls were designed with beautiful tapestries of war and parties with beautiful people and animals. I walked closer to the thrones to look at the designs better, but just then, the king and queen appeared on the thrones like a hologram. My eyes widened, and I curtsied. When I put my head down, I could see what I knew was very close to my true form. My skin burned and sizzled like it was peeling off all of the fake appearances, only leaving one. The one the Queen saw.
I smiled brilliantly, and the Queen said, "Raise your head, child, you are of my descent, and I want to see what my granddaughter looks like."
I lifted my head, surprised. "What do you mean, your majesty?"
She smiled. "You are my descendant, and you will take the crown when I retire."
I took a second to let that sink in. Am I royalty? How could I possibly be? I'm an orphan who doesn't have grandparents.
The first thing I asked was, "Do you guys have any special powers or anything, as I do?"
She shook her head slightly. "No, we are not as fortunate as you; you've just barely tapped into your powers, my dear."
I was thoroughly confused, "What do you mean, I have other powers? And how would you know about them? We just met." I take a deep breath to calm the hysteria in my voice, but this is not helping my nerves. Queen Victoria smiled at me with a feral-looking smile.
"I can't tell you what you so desperately want to know because it is not for me to tell; you must figure it out yourself. Now, what I brought you here for is because I wanted to meet you, and I have found you a suitable husband for you when you become the next queen of this sacred land."